Kenya to partner with private sector on road construction

Kenya plans to partner with the private sector to construct roads worth 3.8 billion U.S. dollars, officials said on Monday.

Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) Director General Peter Mundinia told a media briefing in Nairobi that five road projects have been identified, and will be constructed and maintained under the Public Private Partnership (PPP).

"We will soon float a tender to identify the private contractor for each of the five road projects. We expect that the private sector players will reach financial closure by the end of third quarter of 2017," Mundinia said.

The PPP model is expected to enable the country to undertake more infrastructure projects than can be currently achieved through the public resources alone. Construction of the first road project is expected to commence before the end of 2017.

Mundinia said that under the PPP, the private sector players will build and operate a road for 30-year period.

"During this period, the contractor will charge road users a fee in order to recoup its investments," he said.

KeNHA said Kenya has been forced to turn to the private sector for road funding because the country has an annual deficit spending of between 1 and 2 billion dollars annually.

In the current financial year, Kenya has set aside 1.7 billion dollars for the road sector.

Kenya has a road network of 161,000 km that is classified and another 250,000 that is unclassified.

Some of the road projects earmarked for private funding are part of the Northern Transport Corridor that links Kenya to Uganda.

The Mombasa to Nairobi 466-Kilometer road has been divided into three lots to make it easier for the private sector players to expand the highway into a dual carriageway. Endit